I thought I'd add my 2 cents too.
Stats:
SGU student w/ 3.8+ gpa
NBME 3= 248
NBME 4= 245
Step1 = 240s
Official Program used: Falcon Retreat
Study materials:
Falcon books (&live lecture), Kaplan books (Center-prep videos-selected), UW (roughly 73% correct w/ 50% completed)
How i studied:
Before going to the retreat (ie during classes) i watched the kaplan tapes for 1. pharmacology (concurrent with the class) 2. anatomy (just passively watched) 3. biochemistry (passively watched) 4. some micro (passively watched) 5. selected physiology (cardiology-respiratory actively took notes for class during pathophys).
During pathology i had listen to most of Goljan tapes.
During the retreat: i just did the live lectures and read. I didn't do many questions there. After the retreat i took 3.5 weeks to review and do problems. It took me 2 weeks to review everything we did at the retreat. Then i did 1.5 weeks of just questions.
My opinion:
This test was not a hard test (if you can read english well, as the questions can be lengthy).
I saw more nutrition questions then i thought i would have. Very little pharmacology. Very basic biochemistry. (Yes, i did get As in these classes).
My Biased recommendation:
Just to Pass- First Aid (BE WARE OF ERRORS!) & Goljan Book (NOT THE BOOT LEG..the real book).
To Rock it:
Know goljan book inside and out (we didn't have time to do this, i'll still finish reading it....but if u can do it before u sit for the exam ur going to be sitting pretty).
Katzung Pharmacology (read it all the way during ur pharm class and you will get all of it right). (over kill)
Kaplan Centerprep pharm with Frenchie. THis guy is the man. ENough said. Know the kaplan material and you will also hit all the pharm questions (over kill). Focus on Cardiac drugs, Respiratory Drugs, Anti Cancer, Antimicrobial.
Anatomy: i loved the kaplan video for this ( i think it was superior to falcon anatomy). (same for embryo..i must have had like 8 questions on embryo on the exam..i think first aid was enough).
Neuro: Falcon gives u just enough details. They did a great job with neuro anatomy. Kaplan gives you a LOT of details. Very well done. So it's a toss up. If you have a thirst for knowledge..go kaplan..if you just want to do well on the test..falcon. If you have time to do kaplan during med school..i'd recommend that.
Biochemistry: falcon's live lecture biochem was enough to get the queestions right. If you really want a solid understanding, i recommend kaplan tapes with falcon to review big picture. (I prefer the older ones with the Frenchie)
Genetics: i only did falcon on this. It seemed very good. (it is also a part of goljan's book). This was the same for nutrition (which became high yield for my test) (do the UW questions for genetics and biostats and you will get all of them right on the real exam, i'm sure of it).
Micro: we had dr. dunn teach at falcon. He was EXCELLENT. Total over kill though. I only watched half of kaplan tapes though, so it's hard for me to compare. He did use to teach for kaplan,so i'm sure they are very similar. The falcon color pictures for micro was very nice to hvae.
Immuno: kaplan wins hands down. Although taught by dunn at our retreat, the organization in kaplan i thought was superior. Having said that...everything mentioned in falcon was enough to answer all questions on the exam.
Physiology: kaplan wins for cardio. I didn't attend the live lectures for endocrine, GI, or respiratory. I was dissapointed with the cardio section that i broke away and just did kaplan tapes. I heard our endocrine guy was really good and same with respiratory. I am partial to the black guy from the islands on the kaplan tapes for physiology. The notes for endocrine (falcon) were enough to answer questions (same for GI).
Behavior: i didn't see any kaplan material for this. I read first aid and did our live lectures. I think it covered it all. THis turned out to be my weak spot
probably bc i kept putting it off and concentrated on what i thought was the harder material (my bad).
Path: Goljan all the way. This guy is both inspirational and an amazing teacher. I felt like such a dick for bootlegging his stuff when i was taking classes
. Never again poppie! (if you don't read his stuff before taking the exam you are doing yourself a disservice).
HISTOLOGY!!! YES! it did show up on my exam (4 questions). I happend to read it for the first time the NIGHT before the exam (THANK GOD). I did kaplan for that. We didn't even touch it in falcon. I didn't do the UW questions for this.
Audio visual: i got 2 questions. One heart sound. I hate these questions (i think i missed most of these..in fact..i know i did
). The questions i am referring to are the "what would you do given the diagnosis." They played an audio of a murmur and then asked what you would do " leave it alone, correct it, etc..." I HAVE NO IDEA. This style question came up many (ie 5+) times on my exam. Maybe i would have rocked it SDN style if i could get those answers correct! (many behavior and ethics questions were like this).
Summary: Once again..that massive debate btw falcon and kaplan: its a 50/50 split. Each one has a better aspect..but Goljan for me was the swing vote (esp when i had access to the kaplan tapes).
SUPER DUPER SUMMARY: Do you need a retreat?? If you did well in school...i think you can do it on ur own. First Aid (minus the corrections) + Goljan Book (read all the way) + Solid foundation should yield a solid score. I did the retreat to make sure i didn't forget anything!
Wishes: I wish i would have been able to get a hold of the centerprep tapes earlier. My friend was able to get it for xmas vacation (and went through it during that break). I would have much preferred learning boards stuff then siting on a cruise ship watching my skin burn and freckle.
Working UW: This bank is ridiculously hard. NO QUESTIONs were that hard on the exam (at least on mine). The test is VERY VERY VERY comparable to NBME (mine was). If you can hit 240+ on 2 NBMEs then ur ready to sit for the exam. Yeah yeah yeah, i heard the same thing also and said "oh really, interesting" and kept studying
Anyways, you've been officially warned
I think that's all i have to say about that. Good luck!
Aside: These SDN score are very impressive!!! LoL before sitting for the exam i kept hearing hard the test was..and people scoring in 220s which is still great.. but then u read this forum and its really 240+. LoL in a way i feel as if i let the forum down.
Double Aside:
If you didn't do well during classes you are not doomed to do poorly on the exam. I think the correlation btw GPA and Board scores is related only to study ethics (not smarts--let's face it..u did get into medical school..u r smart). Work hard, isolate yourself from distractions, push yourself from day one of studying, and you can do really well on the exam. (there are limits to this, you can NOT teach yourself 2 years of material in 2 months..but you can easily review the material and brush up on weak areas).
Happy to answer emails PM Me.